tidge

Ignoring "spaghetti code" (which I don't have to look at or maintain), I'm perfectly satisfied with the mechanics of the game at Live shutdown and the QoL improvements Homecoming has given us. I think it is hard to appreciate how the simple constraints of the game have contributed to the wide variety of enjoyments to be had. I think it would be kewl to have s SG base in a specific world area, but such a thing would (a) turn into one more min-max item and (b) add complexity the game doesn't need. I don't think the game needs open world maps. Isn't open-world maps and "better graphics" one of the things that City of Titans has been focused on for... forever? More costumes and improved ragdolls would be nice, but really aren't necessary to enjoying game play IMO. There are a few travel powers that could be kewl (sticking to walls, falling faster than world gravity, swinging on ropes, diving through water, true ballistics) but they wouldn't draw me to a new game. I don't even want to imagine different ways to build/customize characters (statswise)... I can imagine many different approaches, (think D&D v. GURPS v. D&D v. D&D, etc. ad infinitum) but the simple system we have already allows for a huge amount of variety.

Let us know how Radioactive Cloud works for you. This feels over-slotted to me (while Beta Decay feels under-slotted). I think if you are really going to try to eek out %damage from Radioactive Cloud, you probably want the Reactive Defenses Scaling Damage Resistance piece slotted, as well as Preventive Maintenance %Absorb. From the power choices, it looks to me as if you have skipped powers that would be used in Blapping range despite having powers that are very well-used with Blapping like Combat Teleport, Fold Space, I didn't see Atom Smasher or Positronic Fist. (I apologize for questioning play-style and power choices; in my mind there are some choices that have synergy and others that do not) I would not include both Hasten and use the +Recharge piece in Geyser. (TBH, I don't make either of these choices). Using the 6th slot in Geyser for a %damage piece instead will do more to improve spawn defeat times than just having a few seconds of more global recharge. I recommend turning on the power cooldown timers and/or experimenting with unslotters. You can also choose NOT to click Hasten to see how the build plays without it. If you go with this build, I do encourage you to use unslotters on the attacks (like Steam Spray) to see how well they perform slotted with sets (for straight damage plus accuracy plus recharge plus endurance reduction) without trying to get clever with %damage. This is a Blaster, so the ranged damage scale is 1.25 for this character. I like putting %damage in cone attacks, but I have not found it to be valuable for Blaster attacks.

In my experience, the most reliable %proc for henchmen is the Overwhelming Force %Knockdown/KB->KD. I like it in the first tier henchmen because you get 3 ninja knocking down opponents. Another thing to consider about slotting %procs on Henchmen (and pets) is this: you are sacrificing slotting something else that they may need. It could be: More Accuracy, to compensate for level shifts (%damage procs need slotted accuracy too, IIRC this is beyond "%proc chance") More Endurance Reduction, to keep them going on offense a Global Defense/Resist piece An enhancement for one of their team buffs (often it's the T2 henchmen that have the team buffs) For MMs, the henchmen ARE the source of damage, so it is almost always better to slot them for Accuracy and Damage than to try to rely on %damage from procs. The Knockdown is a nice soft control, after that I look at if it is possible for the henchmen to be debuffing enemies (typically AoE %-Res, to speed up defeat times... but usually the MM can do this). One of the Henchman powers (either T1 or T3) gets the Superior %Build Up Enhancement at level 50.

Triage Beacon is a hard power to justify, but not an impossible one. The case in favor of it got harder in i27p5.... for Robotics/Traps, MMV for other combos. Because the Robots are pretty much "all range, all the time" Triage Beacon was best suited for the Robotic primary IMO. The main issue with Triage Beacon is that it is a power that was designed for a different era of the game, an era when combat moved slower and when everyone needed more Healing/Regeneration. I had Triage Beacon in my build for a LONG time. The henchmen could be made to stay in the zone of the Beacon, but the real advantage of Triage Beacon is to use it on teams for which players aren't moving rapidly through spawns while taking damage. With the triviality of defense buffs (including those for Henchmen... even if only from FFG!), and fast-moving AoE murder squads, and the general reluctance of players to play low-level content with difficulties turned up high, pretty much the ONLY player who is likely to see repeated benefit from Triage Beacon is a solo Mastermind... IMO this is mostly because 5 of 6 henchmen are working with level shift penalties. A PUG playing the Positron TFs at +3 will appreciate the benefits of Triage Beacon (because even a PUG of exemplared 50s won't have all their set bonuses and self-preservation powers/effects). I suppose the same case can be made for some Incarnate/Hard Mode content but I'm not going there. This brings me around to another point I want to make about Triage Beacon. In order to really make it work, it needs to: be taken early in the build, to help PUGs and/or Henchmen (possibly without all the upgrades) across as much content as possible be slotted, especially for Recharge and Health, and also for "useful" Enhancement pieces (or it simply won't be doing much) be used in content where the offense isn't moving (all that much)... so large spawn sizes that aren't melting or running away. It is absolutely possible to build Robotics/Traps and pick content to play this way (including S/L AE farms, as well as certain Dark Astoria content). I did this, but ultimately I found that an alternate build (leveraging only the Maintenance Drone) allowed me to play a much more mobile Mastermind. The AI of the Maintenance Drone isn't as reliable as I'd like... but when I feel this way I almost always see it is because one or more of the henchman is out of position (from knockback, or path finding) such that a Triage Beacon would be unlikely to help them anyway. I'll disclose: I've never taken Trip Mine since experimenting with it on Live. Even more so than Triage Beacon I felt it was cornering me into a particular style of play to try to maximize effects I could do better with alternate choices (of powers, of Enhancement choices).

I can believe the bad %proc rate on Acid Mortar. Poison Trap is relatively easy to test: I put a %+2 Mag Hold (Lockdown) to see the visible effect. I didn't like what I was seeing so I slotted it with an Entomb %Absorb instead.

Many of your choices look like ones I have made, I will just comment on a few: Level 6: Equip Robot (A) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance (7) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance If the Build doesn't include the Unbreakable Guard +MaxHP, I would replace the Resistance/Endurance piece with the global piece. Level 38: Weave (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance (39) Luck of the Gambler - Defense (42) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed (42) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge Weave feels overslotted to me. You should be past non-incarnate softcaps (positionals) with just a the Defense/Global Recharge piece. I think the 3 other slots could be used to add Defense/Global Recharge to other powers. You should try to include the Gladiator's Armor +3% Global defense piece as well, it will add more defense than a 4th slot in Weave. Level 1: Caltrops (A) Ice Mistral's Torment - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (34) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy) (39) Javelin Volley - Chance of Damage(Lethal) (50) Ice Mistral's Torment - Chance for Cold Damage I encourage you to experiment with Caltrops slotting. Despite it taking lots of %damage procs, I ended up using it for set bonuses (without ignoring %damage). Somehow I convinced myself that the %proc rates were poor enough that I didn't include the %-Res piece from Annihilation (but left in the Javelin Volley). Level 1: Caltrops (A) Annihilation - Damage/RechargeTime: Level 50 (*) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime: Level 50 (*) Ice Mistral’s Torment –Damage/Recharge: Level 50 (*) Ice Mistral’s Torment –Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50 (*) Ice Mistral’s Torment - Chance for Damage(Cold): Level 50 (*) Javelin Volley - Chance of Damage(Lethal): Level 50

I would pass on Hasten: more recharge mean higher Endurance costs. The only advantages for a Bots/Traps will be: You can get a third Acid Mortar out You can faster cycle the Poison Trap You can faster recycle the Maintenance Drone I don't think the first two are that important, they are less important than using MM attacks (IMO). With just two primary attacks a Robotics MM can do fine with the debuffs. I don't think the cycle time on the Repair Pet is that important, but in some fights enemies will cause it to burn out faster than the recharge time (without Hasten). I like this much better than Triage Beacon.

Unrelenting is a pretty sweet buff for high recharge characters. I especially like it on my Fortunata.

I am not a fan of the need to pick either Provoke or Pacify to get both Fear powers (and Unrelenting!) from the Presence pool, yet I hope this pool never changes because it is simply too good when it is leaned into. Part of my mind can't believe that all AT have access to control powers as a power pool.

I completely get the point about slotting efficiency, but the 6xPreventive Medicine slotting is giving: The %Absorb global piece, which partners nicely with Scaling Damage Resistance (Reactive Defenses*1, slotted elsewhere, I presume) 8.75% global Recharge (six piece bonus) 3.75% global Endurance cost saving (five piece bonus) *1) I feel the same about slotting efficiency in Defense/Resist powers, but often try to 6-slot Reactive Defenses for the same reasons as Preventive Medicine.

The "lazy cruel" comment is directed at Live development, not at Homecoming. I'd of course be thrilled to see new sets for those under-served power types.

I like this thinking... but... "Summer Blockbuster" exists and has Overwhelming Force. I have always thought that it was lazy cruel that our "seasonal event" of Halloween never got a Fear set. The costumes are a very nice touch, but I want a PVP/Superior set that offers a little more (something boost-able!) OOMPH (plus another %damage!) for slotting Fear powers. I can almost believe that because of questions of balance (PvP?) and dev-tweaking that Fear and Threat never got more than their four sets. IIRC, except for %procs, the options in the Fear sets are all the same, and (again IIRC) it's only through DSyncs and IOs that Endurance reduction can be (meaningfully) slotted in Threat powers. I 99.99% believe we'd get another Hold set before we got either a Fear or Threat set.

I appreciate the Homecoming modifications of the Incarnate system, but it was such a clumsy addition to the original game that I wouldn't miss Incarnates if they went away entirely. There are some arcs/missions that I'd miss, and I deeply appreciate that the near-triviality of Incarnate powers make rewards (HO, DSyncs) much easier to accumulate. I know how I come by my dislike of the Incarnate system: I miss Dark Astoria as it used to be, in non-echo form. The Incarnate replacement's story-focus on depression and rage just rubs me the wrong way. I hated the Live mechanism of accumulating assorted "Incarnate XP", so much that it left a terrible taste in my mouth. The HC team's implementations (especially with how easy it is to equip characters, with and without using the Auction House, including catalysts and boosters) has already raised the ceiling on individual characters' ability to handle very difficult content. I don't know why we'd want more player buffs instead of more variety in the rest of the game.

IMO, Fear and Threat would benefit more from a PVP/Superior set than another look at Healing (accurate or vanilla). With a PVP set, many excellent other choices (including Hami-Os) I think that Healing is in a good spot. My healing slotting choices for sets tend to be: 6x Preventive Medicine 3x Touch of the Nictus (for the "life-stealers") 2x Numina (good for Tankers in Health, because of large base HP) 5x Panacea (not common in my build, but I think I have at least one Tanker Build with this in a +HP power since I can boost these to 50+5) After those, the global singletons show up as expected. There are also reasonable Hami-O options for powers with fewer slots.

I'm not a fan of PFF, although I've pretty much only resorted to Force Mastery as an Epic pool choice for Enhancement Mules(*1). I did take, slot and use Repulsion Bomb for quite a lot of content, but I also grew disenchanted with it no matter how I tried to leverage it. I learned first-hand the weaknesses of Personal Force Field when trying to use it to get through a TF mission and enough of the enemies were rolling well enough to murder me. (*1) on Blasters, I always consider Force Mastery only because I know it's an Epic/Patron set that I don't have to invest any slots in, and I may have already burned my four non-Epic power pool choices.

I 100% agree with the looks & feel of Whirlwind. I don't think I've used it in a build since the early (IO only) days of Live, as I found it... disappointing.

Snipes (Fast) get a damage buff from +ToHit.

Two things: (in addition to +ToHit obviously increases the ToHit Chance): +ToHit increases the damage of (fast) snipes, up to 22% IIRC A slotted Gaussian's %Build Up typically has a 90% (ceiling) chance to ALSO fire in Blaster's Aim-like powers. This buff lasts 10 seconds I've tested extra ToHit on normal (long) snipes and have not seen a difference. An easy way to test this is to put a Kismet +ToHit piece in a defense toggle. Try both Fast and Slow Snipes with and without the Kismet piece toggled on/slotted (monitor ToHit bonus).

The talk about "wasting" a cast of Aim for a snipe doesn't make sense to me... AFAIK, The extra damage from +ToHit is only on Fast snipes and does nothing for normal (slow) snipes. I can get behind everything here, except that %proc is not supposed to be factored into set balance; "the game is balanced around IOs".

The tide pods don't go away on a miss, they go away via elapsed time. I simply find it weird that the T7 plays out like this: On a hit, and you had 3x tide power, and it isn't locked out: cast it again to defeat an even-level opponent. On a hit, and it is locked out: cast the T2 to defeat an even-level opponent. On a hit, and you don't have the 3 tide power: cast the T2 to defeat an even-level opponent. On a miss: cast the T2 (twice) to defeat an even-level opponent. Maybe there are almost as bad other Blaster primary T7 attackss, but I think there are better T5 and T6 attacks.

I think the argument equating Aim with Tidal power fails, because you can almost always get a couple of attacks in with the Aim/Build Up boost, and that boost is the same for all attacks (unlike tide pods). The effect of ToHit for Snipes is capped at 22%; on most build with Snipe it is rather trivial to be sitting at a perma +6% anyway (thanks Kismet!)

You have to hit with the first cast of Water Jet in order to get a second cast; it isn't automatic. EDIT: IIRC, you also have to hit with a cast in order to get a tidal counter.

I've played a Water Blast Blaster, so I understand that role that Water Jet (a T7 primary attack power) plays in Tidal Power... but in practice, I find that I was incredibly disappointed with: Damage was lackluster, roughly on par with the T2 attack Hydro Blast... not to mention Arcane Bolt from the Sorcery pool, It took me (YMMV) a LOT of effort to try to work it into an attack chain (because of the Tidal Power effect), partially because of what happens with tidal power after a miss (nothing, so no "fast Water Jet") or elapsed time (buh-bye Tidal Power) I will disclose: I like the fast animation of Water Jet, but ultimately that was not enough reason for me to keep it. My opinion: Water Blast is an otherwise solid set. I can almost see why things were mixed up for it... e.g. I find the lack of a Snipe to be disappointing, but it's not the end of the world... but I really can't get my head around why this power has a T7 with such meager damage compared to a Pool power ranged attack and T5 or T6 Snipes from other Blaster sets. I don't have a specific suggestion, but I feel like this subforum has often been a good place to have discussions of balance (within sets for a specific AT).

I don't consider Incarnates to be in the same category as respecs... I certainly have made the decision to grind towards a different T4, but usually if it is a character I've previously put any time into getting new T3s is not an issue, mileage varies on T4s. I tend to spend a lot of time leveling up characters, so I don't approach Incarnate powers as "covering a hole" in the build... except in the case of Cardiac for Endurance Reduction at high-end play, YMMV. As for "mistakes"... I can only think of a couple of instances where I felt that I had totally misunderstood some power, gave it a fair amount of testing and ended up think of the original choice as a "mistake". More often fro me: a respec specifically to change power choices on an already 'finished' build is usually because: I've used unslotters to determine that some enhancement (usually a global, sometimes a %proc) is having no observable effect, and I can think of another power that could use the slot(s). Generally this personal behavior has meant that I downplay Regeneration (outside of the large HP ATs) and certain resistances. I've experimented with NOT using a power during regular play, and I've determined that the power can come out of the build. This is a major reason why I almost never plan to put Hasten in anything other than a Dominator, or something with 5-minute recharge powers. Very rarely the HC team has modified a power set such that a character needs a respec. The only times this happened (so far!) was for an Energy Melee character and also for a Robotics MM.

One of my Controllers (who went through Redside) has a bio that explicitly identifies him as a former hench that got "cut" because he was always making people fall down, or otherwise getting in each others' way.